Crimping gel-filled cable

[Q™]

Is there a special technique for crimping gel filled (flooded) cable. I seem to be having zero problems with regular cable and lots of problems with gel filled.

 

[nayr]

strip off more than needed.. straighten the wires with your fingernails then wipe em down with a cotton cloth (not paper, it'll snag) then cut it down to the appropriate length.. sometimes a squirt of hand sanitizer on your rag will help as the alcohol does good at stripping the gel away and evaporating quickly.

 

[Kawboy12R]

What he said... My crimper doesn't cut off enough housing to allow the wires to seat fully. In the cold it's even worse. Cut another 1/8 or 3/16" off the housing and they're messy but seat all the way up in. Do more than one or two even cleaned off with just a paper towel and tools and fingers stay greasy.

 

[VorlonFrog]

Adding a three-inch (or longer) heat-shrink sleeve on the outside can help prevent moisture intrusion, as well.

 

[Q™]

Is there a special technique for crimping gel filled (flooded) cable. I seem to be having zero problems with regular cable and lots of problems with gel filled.

strip off more than needed.. straighten the wires with your fingernails then wipe em down with a cotton cloth (not paper, it'll snag) then cut it down to the appropriate length.. sometimes a squirt of hand sanitizer on your rag will help as the alcohol does good at stripping the gel away and evaporating quickly.

So this was real EXCELLENT advice from @nayr...advice which brought me consistent complete success when crimping gel-filled cable; thank you so much @nayr...I hope you'll come back to visit us soon!

Cleaning the gel off the cable with hand sanitizer (70% isopropyl alcohol) was especially effective, but I did have a problem with the hand sanitizer. I purchased a small bottle at CVS and kept it inside my crimping toolkit. Unfortunately, the top of the bottle broke off and the contents emptied into my toolkit. The next time I needed the hand sanitizer I found it had all evaporated. However, I happened to have some isopropyl alcohol wipes (also 70% isopropyl alcohol) laying around which actually worked better because they allowed me to clean the precise areas which needed cleaning without pouring isopropyl alcohol everywhere. I just bought 300 of these wipes on eBay for $10.00. They work a lot better for me than the bottle and they are very easy to store in my crimping toolkit with zero possibility of a toxic waste spill.

HTH someone!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IXTNRE6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[J Sigmo]

You can also get alcohol swabs in the pharmacy dept of Wal Marts. There are sometimes two types. One type is a paper towelette kind of thing, and the other is a small, but thicker spongy sort of thing. The thick spongy ones are better for things where you want more wetness.

We used to use those for cleaning the nozzles of ink jet printers.

 

[Ford]

I have my lackie do the flooded cables. Although training just about killed me.

 

[Q™]

Adding a three-inch (or longer) heat-shrink sleeve on the outside can help prevent moisture intrusion, as well.

...and prevent gel from leaking out of the crimped cable end. I've been using an electrical tape wrap to prevent such leakage, but a heat-shrink sleeve would be more effective and look pretty fuQin good IMO.

 

[Q™]

I have my lackie do the flooded cables. Although training just about killed me.

I've taken to wearing gloves when I crimp gell filled cable.

 

[J Sigmo]

Just do it outside in -20 degree F weather. The gel becomes solid, and you can actually strip it off with wire strippers as if it was a layer of insulation.

 

[harobikes]

Just do it outside in -20 degree F weather. The gel becomes solid, and you can actually strip it off with wire strippers as if it was a layer of insulation.

Thanks but no thanks - haha... *North Dakota guy here.*